I have a confession to make. I didn't have anything to post into this contest because color contrast is a befuddling and terrifying aspect of photography that I have yet to reach an average skill level in, much less to master. Be that as it may, here I am to judge the winner!
It's not that I don't understand the basics of a color wheel or haven't explored finer points of color grading sets of photographs, as I have tried to be more consistent with this. It's just that I haven't really developed an eye for identifying and framing for color contrast in my own photography. Having said that, I'll do my best.
@noelcmn's first post is a delicious burst of violet against an out-of-focus blanket of greenery. With nothing else to distract the eye in the frame, I do like the centered and honest composition of this shot with plenty of "air" in the margins to let the subject breathe. The lighter shades of violet are a near perfect complimentary color to the bright yellow green of the background, leveraging the most of color contrast to make the image "pop". A strong contender.
petite critique: I find that square format works much better than landscape formats when presenting a centered subject. A bit more stem to let the bloom float higher in the image would have more optical punch. This is also a good example to talk briefly about how sharpness is an illusion. I'm guessing this is a bit of a crop at telephoto length and not macro. The natural lighting was good for the colors, but the subject isolation could have benefited from a hint of rim lighting from the sun or flash to give the petals some depth and make the image feel sharper and better defined. I recognize this as a limitation of what we have to work with when we snap the shutter, and I seldom have more than a split second to fuss over such things in my own pictures.
@Yaki - this snap of an aquarium indeed has a lot of colors on display, and just like an aquarium, our attention isn't sure where to focus first. If I may diverge briefly on the topic of "busy" photographs, by most accounts, this might be otherwise discarded as a simple snapshot without aim or purpose. I've long argued with this kind of rigid nonsense before. As an artifact of representational photography, an image represents a shared reality. Not every photograph needs to be engineered as art to evoke an emotional response in the viewer and make for good subject material. I see the neon's here, first, of which I had hundreds over the years of my childhood in countless iterations of my own fish tank. I can nearly see the angel fish swimming in motion, and of course no good tank is complete without a good bottom feeder. In my mind I can distinctly hear the air supply thrumming along while gazing into the brilliant and deep blue of the background, setting off the colors of the fish. You see? A busy photograph connects my memories and emotions all the same as an artsy one.
petite critique: I'm not going to lie - I think most photography judges would surely quickly reject such an image. You'd need to focus on one of these fish and find a good way to introduce some fill light to bring out the iridescence in the scales and more carefully arrange the subjects in the background for symmetry and less clutter. That would mean relocating half the other fish to better isolate the angel, and a more pre-arranged layout in the tank - all for the purposes of engineering a more pleasant to look at photograph of a fish. In that endeavor, no doubt, would be a worthy pursuit of creating
art. But we would no longer be looking at *this* tank, with *these* fish. I'm an oddball and a malcontent that loves fish tanks, and since this competition is mine to judge, I'm going to keep your snap in high regard as we move on. Great colors, beautiful fish, art critics be da**ed!
@djb47 - I'm usually dubious of high ratio crops but this one works for me given the shape of the branch. The sun is backlighting the edges of the petals and giving good depth to the flowers from front to back, the shadows on the stems are nicely crushed to not compete for attention away from the pinks in the blossoms, and that sky is a brilliant and close cousin to royal blue. Like the first image, we're not left comparing anything else in the image except for the contrast between petals and sky. This is a simple image with a good exposure and tidy composition, and brilliant colors.
petite critique: a step or two left to eliminate that errant and distant branch in the left of the frame, or cloning it out entirely would make this a stronger image. At the same time, as photographers we can easily imagine what that looks like and are happy all the same to not bother with it, perfectly content with nature's choices. My only other nitpick would be that the crop is nearing an unacceptable extreme. A bit more space above and below the branch would look more natural to my eye, but this is of course personal preference.
@ramseybuckeye - the first thing that catches my attention here is the oblique angles of the shadow against the bird's head which neatly parallel the darker colors in the wing. A happy accident, perhaps, but the bird is both camouflaged and well lit at the same time! Beautiful composition and interest in the foliage in the left of the frame. I applaud you for not over-sharpening the subject to the point of surrealism. Nice 'n crisp here with just enough detail to picture this critter in its natural environment. The blues and yellows offer a lot of contrast in this image, leaving the eye to roam around and not focus on the main subject. But such is the life of a female purple finch in the color crazed eye of human beings. I'm not really at all bothered by this aspect of the photograph, as the internet is full of millions of mind-enhanced, eye-popping colors of exotic species. I must be brutally honest: I don't even like bird photography, but I find this image both interesting to look at and quite peaceful to contemplate.
petite critique: as an image for personal enjoyment, none, really - it's a striking capture with strong composition. If I were to nitpick and
pretend to be a photography judge: tonally speaking, I think the brightness of the yellow green foliage competes just a hair too much with the subject. a very subtle vignette through reduction of contrast and reduction in saturation in the edges could help pull attention toward the bird, but very subtly indeed as overcooking would interfere with our eye's nano-second observation of the natural rays of light from left -> right in the frame, potentially destroying the coherency and camouflage aspect of the scene. </photoshopper-hat>
So! Without further pontification:
1st Place: I have to give it to Don. This image of the blossoms against the blue sky really pops and makes the most use of color contrast to enhance the blossoms with plenty of depth. The tight, high ratio crop is risky but works for the shape of the branch.
2nd Place: Tom's lovely portrait of this finch might convert me yet to being more appreciative of birding photos. The contrast between the blue sky and yellow green foliage fills the frame with lovely colors, letting us appreciate the subdued palette of the finch in detail and discover her there nestled in the foliage, rather than the animal being highlighted in such a way that it threatens to peck out our eyeballs.
3rd Place: Noelcmn's simple framing makes great use of the theme and I find the bang-on-center composition a joy to observe, with imperfections and damage in the petals and buds all on equal display.
Special Mention: Yaki's aquarium image is bursting with vibrant colors and is a nice place to linger, but needs some touches in composition to be make a stronger image. The blue and the silver on the angel fish are the main color theme I see trying to emerge here, and almost identical to some tones in sand and blue skies I caught at the beach a couple weeks ago. I like that color combination.
Thanks all for participating and thanks again to Tom for giving me the chance to weigh in on this week's challenge. See you in the next rounds! Don, over to you for -31
cheers,
DS
Post #2 by ramseybuckeye
Similar Threads 
